the
sharpest took place at the centre and early in the day. The cavalry
with the English volunteers were thrown forward to hinder the advance
of the French cavalry who, while their infantry were dealing with the
Spanish corps, were being hurled at the centre in order to cut the
army in two and confine the Dutch troops to the defile, or if they
emerged from the defiles, to crush them before they could deploy on
the broken country.

"Where do you take it is the point of conflict?" asked Carlton as the
regiment of the guards with which they were serving went forward at a
sharp trot across the level ground, on which the French cavalry should
soon be appearing. "Where is his Highness himself, for I can get no
sight of the rest of the Dutch cavalry?"

"To the left, I take it, where the fight has already begun. Do you not
hear the firing? and I seem to catch some shouts, as if the Dutch and
the French were already meeting. Mind you, Carlton, his Highness may
have been too confident and laid the army open to attack, but he can
tell where the heart of the situation is, and his business will be to
resist the French onslaught till the infantry are in position. Just as
I thought, we are to go to his aid, and in ten minutes, or my name is
not Graham, we shall have as much as we want."

In less than that space of time the regiment, now galloping, found
themselves in the immediate rear of the fighting line, and opened out
and prepared to advance. In front of them three regiments of Dutch
cavalry were being beaten back by a French brigade, and just when the
English volunteers arrived the French received a large accession of
strength, and the Dutch, broken and ridden down by weight of men and
horses, were driven back. It was in vain that their colonel ordered
his men to charge, for in fifty yards the mass of Dutch cavalry in
front were thrown upon them and broke their line. It was now a man to
man and hand to hand conflict for a few minutes, and Claverhouse, when
he had disentangled himself from the hurly-burly, and forced his way
through the mass, was in immediate conflict with a French officer in
front of their line, whom he disarmed by a clever sword trick which he
had learned from a master of arms in the French service. A French
soldier missed Claverhouse's head by a hair's-breadth, while he,
swerving, struck down another on his right. Carlton had disappeared,
Hales had been wounded, but in the end escaped with his life. Collier